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Bitcoin was trading flat below the resistance level of US$26,000 Wednesday morning in Asia. Ether edged up but remained below the US$1,650 mark, while other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded mixed. Solana led the winners after Visa announced it would expand stablecoin payments to the Solana network. U.S. stock futures traded mixed after a down day Tuesday. Oil supply restrictions from Russia and Saudi Arabia have aroused inflationary concerns and fear among investors of more U.S. interest rate hikes to come.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin edged up 0.01% in the last 24 hours to US$25,764.10 as of 07:10 a.m. in Hong Kong for a weekly loss of 6.72%, according to CoinMarketCap<\/a> data. The world\u2019s leading cryptocurrency has been trading between US$25,500 and US$26,000 since Saturday. It was trading at the same range in June before U.S. investment giant BlackRock\u2019s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application sent the price over US$30,000\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe market seems to underestimate the potential impact of U.S. BTC spot ETFs. A spot ETF approval should attract enormous inflows, creating significant buying pressure on BTC. Conversely, if the BTC spot ETFs are rejected, nothing changes,\u201d wrote crypto research firm K33 Research in a report<\/a> Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPrices are now the same as before the Blackrock news that injected new life into BTC spot ETF chances. In the same time span, the Nasdaq 100, often a good indicator of the market\u2019s general risk appetite, is up 2%. The BTC spot ETFs will be huge, and with improved odds of approval, it looks evident that the market is mispricing it,\u201d the report continued.<\/p>\n Digital asset manager Grayscale Investments sent a letter<\/a> to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday urging the regulator to approve its application to turn the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot Bitcoin ETF. That followed a favorable court decision<\/a> on August 29 for the digital asset management firm requiring the SEC to review an application it rejected last year.<\/p>\n \u201cGBTC\u00a0 is ready to operate as a bitcoin ETF upon regulatory approval, and Grayscale looks forward to further constructive engagement with the SEC,\u201d said Grayscale in a Twitter thread on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Justin d\u2019Anethan, head of Asia-Pacific business development at Belgium-based crypto market maker Keyrock, said the resubmission of Grayscale\u2019s request to the SEC for their ETF approval is a reason for optimism. \u201cAgain, the arrival of a crypto-linked ETF seems to become more and more likely, although the timeline itself remains iffy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ethereum gained 0.51% to US$1,631.79, down 5.53% for the past seven days. The second largest cryptocurrency has been trading around US$1,640 since the weekend. But K33 analysts said they expect the token\u2019s price to rise in the near future.<\/p>\n \u201cSeptember and October favor overweight exposure in ETH, as ETH carry stronger ETF momentum in the short term,\u201d wrote K33 in Tuesday\u2019s report. \u201cFutures-based ETH ETFs are scheduled to receive their final verdicts in mid-October, with strong chances of approval.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nearly a dozen<\/a> companies including Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Roundhill and ProShares have filed to launch Ethereum ETFs in the U.S.<\/p>\n Other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies traded mixed over the past 24 hours. Solana\u2019s SOL led the winners, rising 4.43% to US$20.22 but still posted a loss of 7.19% for the week.<\/p>\n Visa Inc. announced<\/a> on Tuesday it would expand its USDC stablecoin settlement services to the Solana blockchain. The global payments giant has been supporting<\/a> USDC settlements on the Ethereum blockchain since March 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cBy leveraging stablecoins like USDC and global blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum, we\u2019re helping to improve the speed of cross-border settlement and providing a modern option for our clients to easily send or receive funds from Visa\u2019s treasury,\u201d Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, said in the announcement.<\/p>\n Solana said in a tweet Tuesday that Visa\u2019s addition of the blockchain to its payment network follows an extensive period of planning and infrastructure evaluation.<\/p>\n